The quest to declare the Anthropocene an official geological epoch has descended into an epic row, after the validity of a leaked vote that apparently killed the proposal was questioned. The…Continue readingQuest to declare Anthropocene an epoch descends into epic row
Tag: warming
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the end of…Continue readingIce cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past
The new chief of the World Meteorological Organization said it looks to her that the rate of human-caused climate change is accelerating and that warming has triggered more Arctic cold outbreaks…Continue readingNew UN weather agency chief says rate of global warming is speeding up
Scientists analysed 300 years of ocean temperature records from marine sponges and discovered global warming has increased by 0.5˚C more than was previously estimated. In the study, published in Nature Climate…Continue readingMarine sponges reveal global warming has already exceeded 1.5 degrees
Limiting average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels has been the gold standard for climate action since at least the 2015 Paris Agreement. A…Continue readingNew study says the world blew past 1.5˚C four years ago
The global mean temperature in September 2023 was 0.93° C warmer than the 1991–2020 average, breaking the previous record set in 2020 by a margin of 0.5° C. This was the…Continue readingThe jump in global temperatures in September 2023 is difficult to explain by natural climate variability alone
The World Meteorological Organisation confirmed on Tuesday that continental Europe recorded in 2021 its highest ever temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit), and warned that new extremes were expected. The…Continue readingUN confirms Europe hit record high temperature in 2021
In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66…Continue readingEarth shattered global heat record in ’23 and it’s flirting with warming limit
New analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in Greenland and…Continue readingCurrent carbon dioxide levels last seen 14 million years ago
Many of the gravest threats to humanity are drawing closer, as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels, scientists have warned. Five important natural thresholds already risk being…Continue readingEarth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
Simultaneous episodes of extreme heat and drought could occur earlier and repeatedly in Europe, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Laura Suarez-Gutierrez and colleagues investigated how soon end-of-century…Continue reading‘End of century’ extreme heat and drought conditions in Europe could occur much earlier than previously thought
The number of listed threatened species in Australia’s world heritage northern rainforests has increased by 25% since 2020, as ecologists say they are now clearly observing the long-predicted impacts of global…Continue readingQueensland’s wet tropics see 25% rise in threatened species in three years as climate change bites
Total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 were 54.5GtCO2e, and grew to 57.4 in 2022. The emissions gap for 2030 is defined as the differencebetween the estimated total global GHG…Continue readingEmissions Gap Report 2023
According to a new paper by scientists from a dozen institutions, the world’s average temperature will surpass 1.5°C above preindustrial times within the next several years—much faster than most existing forecasts.…Continue readingWorld temperatures will blow past Paris goals this decade
Heat waves have always been part of summer, but the familiar short periods of oppressive conditions have grown into weeks to months of sweltering heat. Research has shown that heat waves…Continue readingHere are the places that could become too hot for humans due to climate change
According to a new paper in Oxford Open Climate Change, the strategies humanity must pursue to reduce climate change will have to include more than reducing greenhouse gases. This comes from…Continue readingResearchers argue that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to combat climate change
The remaining budget for a reliable chance (83%) of not exceeding 1.5˚C global warming has been expended – After making all these changes, our best (50%) RCB estimate starting from 2022…Continue readingRemaining Carbon Budget
The deadly heat in central South America over the past two months was made 100 times more likely by human emissions that disrupted the climate, scientists have shown. Temperatures have exceeded…Continue readingHuman emissions made deadly South American heat 100 times more likely
If global temperatures increase by 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the 2.2 billion residents of Pakistan and India’s Indus River Valley, the one billion people living in eastern China and the 800…Continue readingClimate-driven extreme heat may make parts of Earth too hot for humans
Antarctica has likely broken a new record for the lowest annual maximum amount of sea ice around the continent, beating the previous low by a million square kilometres. The new mark…Continue readingAntarctic sea ice shrinks to lowest annual maximum level on record
Sea ice insulates the ocean, reflects heat, drives currents, supports ecosystems and protects ice shelves. It also has an annual seasonal cycle—some of the ice melts, then freezes again. Every year,…Continue readingDevastatingly low Antarctic sea ice may be the ‘new abnormal,’ study warns
Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned. Their assessment found that six out of nine…Continue readingEarth ‘well outside safe operating space for humanity’
Antarctica is likely warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world and faster than climate change models are predicting, with potentially far-reaching implications for global sea level…Continue readingAntarctica warming much faster than models predicted in ‘deeply concerning’ sign for sea levels
Shallow waters off south Florida topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8˚C) for several hours on Monday, potentially setting a new world record with temperatures more commonly associated with hot tubs. The readings…Continue readingFlorida ocean temperature topped 100˚F, setting potential record
If we look even farther back, to the previous interglacial period, which peaked around 125,000 years ago, we do find evidence of warmer temperatures. The evidence suggests the long-term average temperature…Continue readingIs it really hotter now than any time in 100,000 years?
The UK’s hottest year of 2022 — when temperatures rose to a record 40˚C in the summer — will be considered “average” by about 2060 if the world keeps warming, the…Continue readingUK’s record heatwave will be seen as ‘cool’ by 2100, Met Office warns
Algeria: At least 34 people were killed, where 8,000 firefighters battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than…Continue readingMediterranean on fire as blazes spread across nine countries
Temperatures have consistently topped 40 degrees Celsius this week across southern and eastern European countries, and for some areas like Sicily there remains no respite. The Italian island was baking in…Continue readingFrom scorching heat to deadly storms, Europe has no rest from ‘summer of hell’
A blistering heatwave that has engulfed the southern US over the past four weeks has spread to the Great Plains, midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-eastern regions, placing about 190 million Americans under…Continue readingBlistering US heatwave spreads from south and scorches 190m Americans
The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because “we are damned fools” for not acting upon warnings over the…Continue reading‘We are damned fools’: scientist who sounded climate alarm in 80s warns of worse to come
The sea is becoming greener due to changes in plankton populations, analysis of Nasa images finds. When comparing these changes in colour with those hypothesised from a computer model simulating what…Continue readingWorld’s oceans changing colour due to climate breakdown, study suggests
Soaring greenhouse gases, ubiquitous microplastics, pervasive “forever chemicals”, the global upheaval of animals, even old mobile phones and chicken bones—all have been put forward as evidence that the world entered the…Continue readingSigns of the human era, from nuclear fallout to microplastics
“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement, after climate change and the early stages of the El Nino weather…Continue readingLast week the hottest worldwide on record: UN
Scientists say human activity has so fundamentally altered the geology, atmosphere and biology of the earth that it has entered a new geologic epoch known as the Anthropocene. On Tuesday, members…Continue readingEvidence in Canada lake indicates start of new Anthropocene epoch
Temperatures in Beijing hit a record for mid-June of 39.4 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) on Friday, China’s meteorological authority said, warning the public to stay indoors. More than two million square…Continue readingBeijing roasts in record mid-June temperatures
The slow-down of the Southern Ocean circulation, a dramatic drop in the extent of sea ice and unprecedented heatwaves are all raising concerns that Antarctica may be approaching tipping points. The…Continue readingAntarctic tipping points: The irreversible changes to come if we fail to keep warming below 2˚C
The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a…Continue readingArctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, with global, damaging and dangerous consequences
United Nations climate chief says while the rapid end of burning coal, oil, and natural gas is urgently needed, the topic may not even reach crucial COP28 negotiations.Continue readingWill fossil fuel phase-out make it onto the UN’s climate agenda?
It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice. The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could be in…Continue readingToo late now to save Arctic summer ice, climate scientists find
“CO2 now is higher than any time in the last 4 to 4.5 million years when the atmosphere was about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (3.9 degrees Celsius) warmer and sea levels were…Continue readingAmount of warming triggering carbon dioxide in air hits new peak, growing at near-record fast rate
“Our data show the impacts of climate change are running ahead of schedule,” said lead author Kathryn Gunn, of the Australian Science agency CSIRO and Britain’s Southampton University. The implications could…Continue readingDangerous slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation sooner than expected
We found melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. The meltwater makes Antarctic surface waters fresher, less dense, and therefore less likely to sink. This puts…Continue readingAntarctic alarm bells: Observations reveal deep ocean currents are slowing earlier than predicted
The dangerous and destructive myths of conventional economics include the claims that: Since planetary boundaries have already been exceeded and low-income countries must develop, social justice demands that the rich countries…Continue readingSaving humanity: Here’s a radical approach to building a sustainable and just society
“The human fingerprints in temperature changes in the mid to upper stratosphere due to CO2 increases are truly exceptional because they are so large and so different from temperature changes there…Continue readingAtmospheric research provides clear evidence of human-caused climate change signal associated with CO₂ increases
We analyzed fire danger trends in different elevation bands of the Western U.S. mountains from 1979 to 2020. Fire danger describes conditions that reflect the potential for a fire to ignite…Continue readingFire danger in the high mountains is intensifying, shows study of four decades of data
Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos.Continue readingSevere heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close
Six months without notable cold spell was ‘amazing’ given record rainfall during same period, Bureau of Meteorology says.Continue readingCentury-old Sydney weather record broken with 184 days of 20˚C or higher
In 2022 the summer minimum was less than 2 million square km for the first time since satellite records began. This summer, the minimum was even lower—just 1.7 million square km.Continue readingAntarctica’s heart of ice has skipped a beat: Science briefing calls for action
The groundbreaking modeling study published by Australian and American researchers at the end of March for the first time includes a detailed assessment of the likely impact of melting ice, revealing…Continue readingNew Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
The world’s glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported Friday, as climate change indicators once again hit record highs.…Continue readingUN reports ‘off the charts’ melting of glaciers
The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe, according to US government data.Continue reading‘Headed off the charts’: world’s ocean surface temperature hits record high
Risks are cascading and underestimated, new climate extremes recorded, and the conclusion.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 3
2°C degrees is not a point of system stability, we are heading towards 3°C or more, and system-level change and tipping points are happening faster than forecast.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 2
Record emissions, the 1.5°C target, what about overshooting 1.5°C and cooling back to that level by 2100?, and the likelihood of achieving the 2°C target.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 1
The most recent decade surveyed in a study, the years 2001 to 2011, was the warmest in the past 1,000 years, and the region is now 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than…Continue readingGlobal warming reaches central Greenland
The analysis, by the Global Carbon Project, calculates Earth’s “carbon budget“, which is how much CO₂ humans have released, and how much has been removed from the atmosphere by the oceans…Continue readingGlobal carbon emissions at record levels with no signs of shrinking
More and more scientists are now admitting publicly that they are scared by the recent climate extremes, such as the floods in Pakistan and west Africa, the droughts and heatwaves in…Continue readingWhy scientists are using the word scary over the climate crisis
Caption for figure above: Grid-cell specific rankings of 22-yr negative soil moisture anomalies (drought rank) in 2000–2021 compared to the driest 22-yr period in each previous drought event back to year…Continue readingMegadrought in the American south-west: a climate disaster unseen in 1,200 years
The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take…Continue readingWorld heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’
The latest assessment by risk company Verisk Maplecroft brings those two threats together to calculate that heat stress already poses an “extreme risk” to agriculture in 20 countries, including agricultural giant…Continue readingCountries growing 70% of world’s food face ‘extreme’ heat risk by 2045
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires has darkened skies over the Alaskan interior this summer with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season on record amid hot and dry…Continue reading‘Nothing left to burn’: Wildfires blaze through the Arctic
The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed…Continue readingWorld on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points
Researchers found that a typical forest fire season now burns 3 million more hectares (7.4 million more acres) than in 2001. Forest fires accounted for a quarter of global tree loss…Continue readingForest fires burn twice as many trees as two decades ago
An international team of researchers looked specifically at 25,000 species, including fish, bacteria, plants and protozoans living in the top 100 meters of the world’s oceans. They found that under the…Continue reading90% of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed
Portugal recorded its hottest July on record. The average temperature was 25.1˚C (77.3 ˚F), it said. That was almost 3˚C higher than the expected July average. The heat worsened Portugal’s drought,…Continue readingPortugal sets new July heat record, worsening severe drought
Global heating could become “catastrophic” for humanity if temperature rises are worse than many predict or cause cascades of events we have yet to consider, or indeed both. The world needs…Continue readingClimate change: Potential to end humanity is ‘dangerously underexplored’ say experts
Scientists have been able quickly to prove that record-breaking temperatures are no natural occurrence. A study published last month showed that the south Asian heatwave was made 30 times more likely…Continue readingBurning planet
Muhammad Akbar, 40, sells dried chickpeas on a wheelbarrow in Jacobabad, and has suffered heatstroke three times in his life. But now, he says, the heat is getting worse. “In those…Continue reading‘It seems this heat will take our lives’: Pakistan city fearful after hitting 51˚C (124˚F)
Four key climate change indicators—greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification—set new records in 2021. “It is just a matter of time before we see another warmest…Continue readingFour climate change records broken in 2021: WMO State of the Climate Report
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90˚F…Continue readingIt’s 70˚F (40˚C) warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
The Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers, in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, have experienced enhanced ocean-induced ice-shelf melt, glacier acceleration, ice thinning and grounding-line retreat in the past 30…Continue readingStudy – Rapid glacier retreat rates observed in West Antarctica
The world’s oceans are hotter than ever before, continuing their record-breaking temperature streak for the sixth straight year. For the last year, the researchers found that the upper 2,000 meters in…Continue readingAccumulated heat in the upper ocean is at record levels again
New results from a long-running public opinion survey show that about 1 in 3 Americans is now “alarmed” by global warming. Is it any wonder, given the horrific onslaught of fires,…Continue reading1 in 3 Americans now ‘alarmed’ by climate change
The past six years have been the six hottest on record. More than 400 weather stations around the world beat their all-time highest temperature records in 2021. Ten countries – Oman,…Continue readingExtreme weather in 2021
As required by the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the government has today submitted the Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) to Parliament. Professor Richard Betts MBE, who led this team,…Continue readingUK government: 4°C warming by 2100: “can’t be ruled out”
The severity of possible future temperature extremes poses serious challenges for preparedness for future climatic change. The modelled Victoria and NSW extremes indicate the possibility that sites within major Australian cities,…Continue readingAustralia’s Unprecedented Future Temperature Extremes Under Paris Limits to Warming
National net zero emission targets could, if fully implemented, reduce best estimates of projected global average temperature increase to 2.0–2.4 °C by 2100, bringing the Paris Agreement temperature goal within reach. A…Continue readingWave of net zero emission targets will still cause dangerous warming
The highest temperature in European history appears to have been recorded in Italy during a heatwave sweeping the country, with early reports suggesting a high of 48.8˚C (119.85˚F).Continue readingHighest recorded temperature of 48.8˚C in Europe apparently logged in Sicily
“Arctic warming is remarkably about 2°C (3.6˚F) in just this short period of time (15 years).”Continue readingJune 2021 Global Temperature Update